American Education Week

The National Education Association (NEA) celebrates American Education Week from November 15 – 21st by promoting quality public education for all children from kindergarten through college as a basic right and the need for communities to stay involved to help public schools excel. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel recently stated that “a great public school for every student starts with a great teacher.” How many of us, 10, 20, even 50+ years after attending public school recall with fondness some of our favorite teachers?

The dedicated teachers who make significant impacts on the lives of our youth, who shape interests and future career choices, who encourage our children to reach their true potentials, are doing one of the hardest jobs in America these days. Crime, disrespect, lack of support, and low salaries in the public school system are just a few of the reasons that it is hard to recruit the best and brightest to the profession of teaching. Despite these challenges, we are lucky that there are people like Mrs. Ono, Mrs. Davis, and countless others who are giving 110% to their students every day in classrooms across America to give our kids what they deserve – a solid education that will allow them to grow, prosper, and achieve in the 21st century.

The NEA website has a lot of valuable information, including user rated lesson plans for math, geography, history, English and much more, as well as ideas for classroom management. This is a great resource for parents and teachers alike.

Who was your favorite public school teacher growing up, and why? How can we as parents help public school teachers to succeed?